“I assure you, you have no idea,” his voice turned cold.
“You got stuck with me, and now you have to live with the consequences,” Prim said, pointing a finger at him, her eyes fierce.
He laughed cruelly and took a step back, to the fireplace, to the abandoned whiskey. He shook his head in disbelief as he looked at her.
“You think that I would be in here, suffering if it was simply a matter of being stuck?”
“You can’t even stand to be in the same room with me, sober,” she accuses.
“You are right, Prim,” he said lowly, “I can’t bear being in the same room with you.”
Prim took the hit with an audible inhale. She knew, she had mentally prepared herself for this. But still, to hear those painful words from his mouth…
She nodded to herself, partly relieved that she now clearly knew how he felt about her. The pretense could end. She turned to leave, praying she could hold her dignity at least till the door to her chamber closed.
“I can’t bear being in the same room with you,” he repeated, “because I can hardly restrain myself.”
She froze.
“I am a vile man, losing his mind because the one thing he wants is the one thing he has no right to take.”
Prim turned to look at him. He seemed as if physical pain, his look cast down, in shame. When it returned to her, it was a volatile mixture of grief and desire.
“I lock myself in here, I locked the door, I avoid you. All of it to protect you from the man who has no right to touch you, but who can think of little else.”
Her jaw slacked, her eyes frowning in disbelief. This man before her was not cold, he was burning.
“I stay away not from disgust or hate. I stay away, Prim, because every time I am near, I can barely hold back from being the rake everyone says I am and claim you when you are not mine.”
Prim’s heart hammered against her ribs, threatening to break free. She searched his eyes, and he knew that he was telling the truth.
“Did you think for a moment to ask me how I felt?” She asked.
“I knew how you felt. You were reserved and called meYour Grace.”
“You called meLady Mildenhall.”
“How was I supposed to present you to Mrs. Byrne?Here is Prim, the woman I want to devour?”
“Well, I suppose that wouldn’t be appropriate,” she agreed.
A rare chuckle left his mouth, and he shook his head as his hands raked his hair in disbelief. They looked at each other once more,and the air in the study was irrevocably changed. It was charged, heated, and it had nothing to do with the fire in the fireplace.
“What a singularly foolish brand of nobility!” Prim shook her head.
Leo tilted his head, a silent warning and a question. Prim met his gaze, a slow smirk touching her lips. He took one step closer, his chin dipping, once more the predator he was. Prim felt alive for the first time in almost a whole month.
“You were torturing us both,” Prim said, lifting her chin to meet his eyes. “Denying yourself something I would have gladly given.”
A low rumble vibrated in his chest. In two swift strides, he closed the distance between them. He didn’t stop, his restraint snapped, his control in shambles. He grabbed her, his hand cradled her face, his arm around her waist.
“I’ll take it then,” he growled.
He was upon her mouth like a warrior descending into battle. Unyielding, unstoppable, unrelenting. And Prim liked him exactly like that. This is who he really was, not that polite, distant stranger. This was him, who barely controlled, barely civilized, commanding and intense.
He moved them, and her back hit the closed door, their lips still locked. His lips moved against hers, tasting each one slowly, ina maddening pace. Prim responded, trapping his lower lip, her fingers in his hair. Leo chuckled over her lips and caught her lower lip with his teeth in a possessive bite. Prim gasped, the sound swallowed whole by his mouth as her entire body burst into flame.
His tongue swept into her mouth, taking what he thought he didn’t deserve. Wet, hot heat exploded low in her belly, her whole world only this moment. She felt his hand fall from her chin to her waist, and then with one powerful pull, he gripped her hips and lifted her. Her back hit the door once more. This time, her legs wrapped on pure instinct around his waist.
